Sweet wine season, 1: Seifried Sweet Agnes Noble Riesling

I’m starting a series on sweet wines. I think they’re neglected. The truth is, as a group they encompass some of the most exciting and complex of all wines. Often, they’re fantastic bargains, even if they are rarely cheap. There are many different styles of sweet wine, and I’m starting with a rather unsual sweet Riesling from New Zealand. Grapes were late-harvested, with a large portion of the fruit shrivelled and raisined by natural dehydration. Slightly naughtily, the grapes were then frozen and pressed to yield a concentrated juice. It’s a bit like an artificial ice-wine.

Seifried Sweet Agnes Riesling 2008 Nelson, New Zealand
10% alcohol. Intense, powerful, sweet and citrussy with lively spicy richness and apricot and peach fruit. Complex, viscous and intense with high acidity countering the sweetness, as well as some notes of pear and apple. Precise and spicy, with amazing intensity, almost like an ice wine in terms of the depth of flavour. 93/100 (£14.99 Waitrose, Laithwaites, £19.99 Naked Wines)

4 comments to Sweet wine season, 1: Seifried Sweet Agnes Riesling

Hi Jamie,
Did you realise that there is still no agreement between the EU and New Zealand to import wines that are under 8.5% abv? This means that growers who make beautiful Germanic auslese and beerenauslese styles cannot get their wines retailed in the UK. This is purely a low alcohol consideration and nothing to do with potential alcohol or residual sugar. It is a daft anomaly.

I guess it is up to the New Zealand trading commission to renegotiate the definition of wine that can be imported into the EU. Having managed – at long last – to get sweet wine accepted – it seems that they did not see this loophole. Everyone I have spoken to: growers, trading standards people etc are mystified, but don’t see an immediate solution.

Note: I’ve made some changes to the text, but not the tasting note – I’d assumed that this was a botrytised wine – it turns out it isn’t, but instead is made by freeze concentrating late harvested grapes